The Los Angeles Lakers began their Western Conference Semifinal series against the Dallas Mavericks in much the same way the started the playoffs: with a thud, followed by a disappointing loss.
Granted, the way in which Kobe Bryant and company surrendered Game 1 to Dirk Nowitzki's Mavs was markedly different from that playoff-opening loss at home to Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets. Rather than giving the game away right out of the gate as they did against the Hornets, the Lakers chose instead to play nearly three quarters of high-quality basketball before fumbling away what was at one point a 16-point lead to their talented but more-or-less undermanned visitors in a gut-wrenching 96-94 defeat.
Few would be discussing the Lakers' struggles, at least so loudly, had Kobe drained the three-point shot that he had such a good look at just before the final buzzer sounded.
Instead, he clanged it off the back iron and set off yet another round of finger-pointing in LaLa Land.
The Biggest Culprits
In a team sport like basketball, there really is no single area or player to which anyone can honestly assign the whole of the blame, especially with such a close decision in the end.
However, there are clearly a couple of players to whom many eyes, including those of the bespectacled Phil Jackson, will turn when determining who needs to step up in Game 2 to tie up the series at 1-1.
Those two, not surprisingly, are Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.
As tremendous as Kobe was on Monday night with his 36-point performance, the Lakers' front court left much to be desired on both ends of the floor.
Bynum's Bad Night
Bynum barely clocked in on offense with eight points in just under 29 minutes, ultimately registering an alarmingly bad +/- of -16.
For the uninitiated, that means that the Mavericks outscored the Lakers by 16 points during the time that Bynum spent on the floor, which is particularly troubling considering that Bynum's impact is primarily felt on the defensive end.
The Lakers don't necessarily look to Drew for scoring punch, but certainly expect him to at least control the paint on defense if he isn't having a good night offensively.
As the numbers and the game film indicate, Bynum didn't even do that much, coming away with only five rebounds the entire night—none of which came on the offensive glass.
All of which makes less surprising the fact that Lamar Odom, and not Andrew Bynum, was on the floor to close out the game on Monday night.
Pau's Pathetic Performance
And don't even get me started on Pau.
Offensively, Gasol was solid but far from spectacular, scoring 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting while also chipping in seven assists. Those numbers, though, do little to to illuminate how poorly Pau played with Dirk Nowitzki guarding him, as Pau struggled time and again to play through contact or assert himself physically against Nowitzki who, mind you, isn't generally recognized for his defense because, frankly speaking, he doesn't play that much of it.
One would think that Pau, who's long had a reputation as a softy in the post, would at least be able to hold his own against Dirk Nowitzki, another feathery European forward whose effectiveness is founded on finesse.
Contrary to that thinking, Pau, who has an inch of height and five pounds on Nowitzki, looked like a runt getting beat up by a playground bully, surrendering 28 points and, most troubling, 14 rebounds to Dirk while getting pushed out of the lane time and again on offense.
In Pau's defense, Dirk hit some pretty impossible shots throughout the game, as he tends to do against just about anyone who tries to guard him. However, if Pau is ever truly going to assert himself as one of the premiere forwards in the NBA, now is the time to do it.
Pau's Monday night can essentially be summed up in two equally exasperating plays—his foul on Nowitzki while going for the ball on an inbounds pass on defense, and his fumbling away of the ball when setting a screen for Kobe on offense, both of which saw Gasol getting man-handled by Dirk, of all players.
Post, Present and Future
Clearly, then, the Lakers need Bynum and Gasol to step up their efforts if they are going to move on to the Western Conference Finals for the fourth year in a row. By stealing Game 1, the Mavs proved that they aren't just another team that LA can walk over, that this series will be a battle to the very end.
And if the Lakers are expect to emerge victorious, they need their two biggest foot soldiers, Bynum and Gasol, to be with them in the trenches.
Or, in basketball terms, the Purple and Gold need both players to be assertive and Gasol, in particular, to thicken his skin as he did during the Lakers' run to the NBA title during the previous two postseasons.
Otherwise, there will be no three-peat parade down Figueroa for the Lake Show this June.
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